Means for deaerating radiators of heating systems



Sept. 11, 1923.,

1 J. MEINKEN MEANS FOR DEAERATING RADIATORS 0F HEATING SYSTEMS In 06717'077 Jviz Mile/ 1% Filed July 27 1921 Patented Sept. 11, 1923.

UNITED. STATES JOHN MEINKEN, OF ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA,

MEANS FOR DEALERATING RADIATORS OF HEATING SYSTEMS Application filed July 27,

To all whom it may concern I Be it known that 1,- JOHN MnINKnN, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Paul, in the county of Ramsey and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Means for Deaerating Radiators of Heating Systems, of which the following'is a specification.

This invention relates to separators for use in heating systems such as steam equipments, for heating buildings, and more particularly to means for automatically deaerating the heat distributing units, such as radiators of heating systems, an object of the invention, being the provision of means whereby air in the flow mains, will, to a degree, be prevented from entering the flow risers, the invention consisting in a novel arrangement of flow and return passages intercommunicating with one another at varying levels to bring into play the law of gravity and centrifugal force, whereby a large part of the air carried over from the heat generator is separated from the advancing steam column and forced to remain in the mains.

Another object of the invention, is to provide a device designed to create a suction at the return end of the radiator, which is eifected by the natural flow of the steam in the flow main. whereby the How of the steam in the radiator is accelerated, (or, in other words, its velocity increased) and whereby air accumulated by condensation in the radiator, is drawn into the main.

A further object of the invention, is the provision of a steam controlling device designed, for deaerating the radiator and forming part of the main, and having connections with the radiator whereby the latter receives its inflow of steam and dis charges its returning steam and condensationathe end of the discharge passage in the device being preferably straight and in parallelism with the direction of flow of the steam in the main, and in close and open communication with the latter, so as to be influenced by the flowing steam to create a suction therein, while said inflow passage for supplying the steam to the radiator, is in open communication only with the top of the main, and is so formed, as to cause the steam in its passage to whirl around a central open area and thereby reduce the pressure therein, the area being in open communication with the discharge passage,

1921. Serial No. 487,958.

thereby to permit the air in said passage to enter the said reduced pressure area.

A still further object of the invention, is to provide simple and effectivemeans'in the feed main for automatically setting up and maintaining a constant suction action and arrangement of parts, illustrated in'the v accompanying drawings, and hereinafter described and claimed.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of my invention, showing it connected into the main and connected with a flowand return riser. Figure 2 is a plan View of same, partly broken away to disclose the inner construction, the main and risers not being shown. Figure 3 is a vertical sectional View on line 38 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view' on line 44 of Figure 2'.

Figure 5 is a vertical sectional View on line 5-5 of Figure 2, and

Figure 6 represents, diagrammatically, a part of a single pipe heating system, showing a heat generator, a pair'of my improved steam controlling devices in' the main and a radiator operatively connected with one of said devices.

Referring to the drawings, 1 designates a boiler or steam generator, 2 the feed or flow main, 3 an air cock for discharging the accumulated air from the main, 4 a radiator, 5 the flow riser6 the return riser and 7 the deaerating device connected to the risers. The usual shutoff valves 8 and 8' are provided. A second deaerating device is shown, to illustrate how, any number may be inserted into the main, one for each radiator.

The deaerating device. is constructed along the lines characteristic of pipe fittings, and may be termed a chambered pipe coupling or casing, comprising a preferably cylindrical or tubular long main body portion 9, having open ends 9' and 9",'and preferably of uniform internal diameter to form the main steam passage10,'said passage being surrounded by the arcua'te wall 10', said open ends being suitably threaded as at 11, (Fig. 2) to be thereby threadedly connectedv longitudinally into the main flow pipe 2,. (hereinafter to be referred to as the main,) thus forming a firm coupling between the pipe sections. As shown in Figure 6, the main is connected to the boiler in the usual manner, sufficient fall being allowed (as. shown) to drain the condensations into the boiler, and the air Valve 3 provided to discharge accun'iulated air.

Ordinarily, the steam flows through the main in a straight ahead course, except for turns in the line, and as is well known the steam is hottest in the upper interior of the pipe, or, in other words, above the longitudinal axis thereof, this being more especially true, in one pipe systems as here shown,

wherein the flow main serves also as a return main. In Figure 4:, the relative positions or" the water, air and steam is shown and indicated by the letters W A and S. Advantage has been taken 01' this tact by locating the partition wall 12, above the longitudinal axis a of the main, said wall extending laterally across the main passage 10 to thereby form the intake passage 13, and inwardly from its outer edge 14 located at a point adjacent the threaded end 9, to a point spaced a distance from the threaded end 9". The casing is further formed with an outwardly extending hollow extension 15, extending beyond the side of the body portion 9, and preferably of semi-circular contour with the point 16 as its vertical axis. This pointis transversely ofl'set from the axis a and coincides vertically approximately with the outerdiameter of the body 9. The extension is formed with a tlat top wall 17, extending preferably tangentially from the body 9, and constituting a continuation of the arcuate wall 10, and with a bottom wall 18 on the level with the partition wall 12 and merging into same so as to form a continuation thereof. The inner border 19 of the partition wall 12 (Fig. 2,) is curved to merge harmoniously into the semi-circular outer contour of said extension, and is connected by an integral upwardly extending wall 20 to the inner surface of the arcuate wall 10, whereby the intake passage 13, and the semi-circularextension chamber 21, are joined together to form a eontinuous'passage way leading, in approximately an involute or spiral curve, from the edge 1 1, around the center 16, to the end 9 of the body 9. At this point the involute passage merges into the inclined outlet passage 22, the latter having suitable threads 23 so as to constitute an outlet. branch whereby it may be connected to the flow riser 5, 6). This involute passage lies wholly, and unbroken, above the floor 12 of the intake passage 13, so that the rapidly moving steam from the main entering the intake, will be conducted tangentially into the chamber 21, so that it will whirl around a central space or area 23, surrounding the axis 16, thereby setting up a centrifugal force, whereby air and condensation, which may at this stage of: its travel be present, will be thrown outwardly against the curved wall 20 and that of the semi circul'ar chamber 21, and then gravitate down the inclined wall 18 into the channel 39 to discharge into the main. From the branch passage 22, the steam passes through the riser5 and valve 8 into the radiator, through the return riser 6 into a second branch passage 24 constituting an inlet, the latter having suitable threads 25, whereby it is threadedly connected to the riser 6. The branch passage extends, preferably, in parallelism with'the passage 22, and is located at the opposite end of the body9, and extends downwardly beyond the wall 17, of the chamber 21, and longitudinally of the body 9 (preferably in the formof a rectangular passage 26) directly through the centrallow pressure area 23 surrounding the axis 16. The side walls 27 and 28 of the passage 26, extend beyond the axis 16, and terminate at the border of said area indicated by the wall 29, (Fig. The ends of the walls 27 and 28 are indicated respectively, at 30 and 31. (Fig. 2.) The intake passage 13 is formed with an inner vertical curved wall 32 (Figs. 23-4) merging into the arcuate wall 10" of the 2) the floor 1.8 of the chamber 21 descends gradually, ('as is best shown in Figure i) to the points '34 and 35 on line 44 of liigure 2. From the points 33 to 34: the floor 18 is formed with an abrupt downwardly directed curved angle wall 36, the base of said wall, being indicated by the point 37, which coincides with the bottom oi the passage 26. The line of the abrupt bend of the floor 18 is clearly indicated by the curved ridge 38 (Fig. 4). From the section line 1-4- to line 5--5 of Figure 2, the contour of the cross section of the casing merges gradually from that shown in Figure 1 to that of Fig. 5, the latter showing an arcuate floor line 39, forming a channel 39, said floor at line 5 still being a distance above. the level of the floor of the passage 26, as is blainly indicated by the dotted line 40 of Figure 5, thereby enabling condensation gravitating from the whirling steam in the involute passage, to drain from the floor 39 to the formed with an inner wall 43, and extends fill around the end of the passage 26 and is in open communication therewith. Further, the channel extends in a curve through the wall of the body 9, beneath. the floor 12, and extends longitudinally into the main passage 10, and has discharge opening 44 in open and close communication with the latter, said opening being directed in the direction of the steam flow. In operation the involute passage way taps the main in its upper interior, conducts the steam around a three quarter turn and discharges it upwardly through the outlet branch 22, while the chan nel 39" branches oft" in a continuous curve from the involute passage at a point intermediate its ends, and crosses underneath same and discharges into the main in the direction of steam flow, and the inlet passage 26, extends under the involute passage way into open communication with the space surrounding the vertical axis thereof and discharges directly into the channel 39 at a point intermediate its ends. As the steam enters the intake channel it encounters the wall &5 (Figs. 45) to be deflected thereby, the lower edge 4L6 thereof, tapering from zero at the top, downwardly to the overhanging ledge 47 forming part of the bottom of the passage 22. As shown in Figure 5, this overhang extends across the passage 26 so as to shield the flow in the latter against disturbing influences from the rushing steam above. The tapering edge as tends to force condensations from the rushing steam clownwardly into the passage 26.

As hereinhetore stated, the rushing steam causes a reduction in pressure in the space 23. or tends to create a vacuum therein which in turn sets up a suction in the passage 26, thereby sucking the air formed by condensation in radiator, out of same. This suction is augumented by the outlet nozzle 4-4: which is directed in the direction of flow of the steam, whereby a reduction in pressure is effected in the nozzle. As the passage 26 is in open communication with the chamber 21, above it, the rushing steam propels the water into the main. The

combined suctions keep the return end of the radiator practically constantlyfree from air thereby increasing the velocity of the steam and rendering the system more eflicient.

I claim:

1. In a device of the class described, a main passage adapted to form a part of a main pipe line for conducting a moving column of steam therethrough under a normal pressure, a branch passage being in open communication with the top of the main passage in a manner to receive a portion of the column of steam, and leading in a curve around a central area and being in close and open communication with said area to form a partial vacuum in the latter by the motion of the specified part of the column of steam tion of flow of the main column of steam'to thereby create a suction action in said third passage, and an inlet passage in open communication with said central area to be influenced by the reduced pressure in the latter, and discharging into said third passage to be influenced by the suction in the latter. A

2. A sleeve coupling adapted to be connected into a pipe line through which is flowing a main column of steam, said coupling comprising a circular chamber, a branch outlet passage having an intake opening arranged within the sleeve coupling in a manner to receive a part of the main steam column, said intake opening being elevated above the floor of the sleeve coupling and a passage leading tangentially into and out of said circular chamber and being in open communication therewith to cause the steam to form a partial vacuum in the center of the chamber to thereby reduce the pressure thereat relative to the pressure in the main line, an inlet passage in open communication with the circular chamber, extending through the center of the floor thereof to come under the influence of said reduced pressure, and a discharge passage in open communication with said inlet passage and tangentially opening into said circular chamber and lead ing into the interior of the sleeve coupling and having a discharge opening within the latter facing in the direction of flow of the main column of steam in the pipe line to thereby create a suction in said chamber.

3. A hollow casing adapted to be connected into the main of a heating system, so as to form a part thereof, and having an inlet and outlet branch, the hollow of said casing being divided horizontally to form in its upper part a passage describing a spiral, the terminals thereof coiistitutingrespec-tively a receiving and a discharge open ing, said openings being located in the path of the steam so that a part of the steam will be caused to flow through said spiral, said openings facing in opposite directions. the receiving opening being above the level of the discharge opening, said spiral passage being in open communication with said outlet and inlet branches, and a space within the described spiral in open and closecommunication with said spiral passage to form an area of reduced pressure created by the I steam rushing through said spiral passage way. c

In testimony whereof I atfix my signature.

' JOHN MEINKEN; 

